American Writers Essays & Research Papers

Best American Writers Essays

Annie Dillard’s
“An American Childhood”
In Annie Dillard’s “An American Childhood” she takes us the reader back in time. She tells of the activities and games she played as a child, which also draws the reader in to her story more bringing back the same memories from their childhood. She sets the stage around Christmas time on a weekday in late December. Her and her friends were standing in knee deep snow along the road waiting for cars to pass by, an easy target for anyone who could throw...

﻿Native-American Literature, c.20,000B.C.E.-present
Characteristics
The literature is as diverse as the cultures that created it, but there are often common elements such as stories explaining creation or natural forces.
Major Writers or Works
Oral narratives: Myths; legends; songs; creation stories from groups such as the Zuni, Aztec, Navajo, Lakota, Seneca, Tlingit, Cherokee, Blackfoot, Cree, Inuit, and many more.
Exploration Period, 1492-1607
Characteristics
The first European...

MARK TWAIN (part I & II)
Twain – a romantic or a realist?, literary significance of Mark Twain, Twain’s life experiences as reflected in his works, Twain as a travel writer, Twain as a publisher – the American literary market in the late nineteenth C., Twain’s personal tragedies, literary fads exploited by Twain, Twain’s major woks
1. NATURALISM AND REALISM
Realism vs. romanticism, naturalism as a more drastic version of realism, naturalism in literature: philosophy and...

American Literature Summer Reading List
Summer 2014
Belmont High School English Department
The following list was complied from the recommendations of the Belmont High School English department and contains some of the best-known works of
American literature. Each book addresses the American Dream and/or American identities. All entering 11th graders must read at least one book from the list
below over the summer. Students entering English 11 Honors must read at least one contemporary AND one...

1,317 Words | 18 Pages

All American Writers Essays

Character Analysis of "The Lesson"
Throughout the short story "The Lesson," Toni Cade Bambara uses a first person writing style, as well as specific characters to emphasize her ideas, and further prove her point. Bambara illustrates what it is like for African American kids growing up, and the overall issue of class, and inequality that African Americans are still facing today. The author successfully states her claim, and by writing in first person, through the character Sylvia, the reader...

And today in the wide world of Literature, well maybe just short stories, we will be going over Rick Moody's "Boys" and Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" and discerning the way in which Moody chose to make his story very quick paced to the reader and in a way difficult to read, but with a purpose. Also how that affects the way the reader may read, perceive, or understand the story in a different way. And comparing how the similar writing style of Kincaid compares to Moody's use.
In "Boys" we are...

In American Literature, there are several themes. Regionalism, Gothic Fiction, and Naturalism are the three main topics, to date, discussed in our classroom. While one might argue that some are more intriguing than the others, Gothic Fiction is determined to be the most darkening and interesting topic. After the Civil War, the literature faded from war times into stories of love, nature, depression, and more.
Post Civil War, Emily Dickinson wrote “I’m nobody, who are you” and “The brain is...

﻿Bailey Diamond
In the article “Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Architects of Female Power” by author Valerie Gill, Ms. Gill attempts to bridge the gap between what appears to be two powerful women of their time with two totally different opinions of the American woman and the type of life they should lead. The author points out the obvious differences of opinions in the writings of the two women, who are related by the way, and the different era in which they write. Catharine...

The outdoors contains many wonders that a child explores throughout the early years of life; therefore, a person’s childhood tends to position his path for the future. As a result, occurrences seen on an average day sitting at school, exploring in the woods, or examining the stars have the potential to be life changing. An American Childhood (Dillard), “Two Views of a River” (Twain), and “Listening” (Welty) all allocate this thought, yet the works juxtapose each other with different morals....

﻿ENG 4U1 – Film and Literature Comparative ISP
Choose your ISP Topic below. For that topic, you must choose one corresponding film and one corresponding novel from the list below. You will then work towards completing a comparative analysis of the two chosen works. The steps of the ISP are as follows:
U1A5 – Statement of Intent/ISP Proposal
U2A6 – ISP Progress Report #1 (here you will review your ISP novel)
U4A1 – ISP Annotated Bibliography
U5A1 – ISP Progress Report #2 (here you...

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Quote
Reply
"War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength"
They are the Party slogans, and are written in big letters on the white pyramid of the Ministry of Truth.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."
The people controlling the present control everything and can ultimately change the past and, therefore; the future. Big brother controls the present. The slogan is an example of the Party's technique of using false history to...

Brooke Burns
English 120 BO2
Literary Analysis 2
3/18/2011
The Lesson: Sylvia’s Realization
Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’ explores questions of culture and class among a group of children and a woman who takes them on a trip into an expensive department store. While ostensibly the story is a simple narrative about a trip, upon further inspection one realizes the subtle poignancy Bambara is able to achieve. This essay examines...

The theme of desire has been portrayed in many novels and stories. Perhaps the most well-known depiction of desire can be found in the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, a snake tempts Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge after he convinces them that they will gain God’s knowledge of good and evil and be protected from death. Despite God’s word to not eat of the fruit, Adam and Eve did so anyway. Surely, this story portrays temptation; however, beyond the theme of...

Rupp
Eng 101
October 16, 2013
The story “The Lesson,” by Toni Cade Bambara, is about a young girl named Sylvia who is accompanied by a group of her friends from her neighborhood and her elderly neighbor named Ms. Moore, who tries to teach all of them a lesson about life. “The Lesson” is a realistic story that takes place in the mid-20th century that exemplifies the true difference between upper and lower classes during that time period. Although Sylvia might come off as a mean and cocky...

PART 1 SUPPORTING CASE SSS SOFTWARE IN-BASKET EXERCISE SUGGESTED RESPONSES TO THE
SUPPORTING CASE QUESTIONS
Item 1Student responses will vary. Write a memo to all staff in the department asking staff to come in and introduce themselves
.Item 2 Write this information in “note to self.” Recently SSS Software has lost two key personnel, Michael Grant and Janice Ramos from health and hospitals, and finance and banking. How soon will the organization replace Janice Ramos? And with an internal...

All interesting authors expose their readers to experience the essence of the story. In this case, Toni Cade Bambara uses the illustration of her short story “The Lesson”, in order to convey the reality of a 1960’s ghetto, African American community through the eyes of a young girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is a young, fearless girl who has an audacious and outspoken nature despite her constant use of profanity and insulting judgments of Miss Moore. Moreover, Toni Bambara’s technique of literacy...

﻿Raymond’s Run: How Hazels POV changed throughout the story
Raymond’s Run is a story written by Toni Cade Bambara who describes the events that take place in the life of a skinny girl named Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, a little African-American girl with a squeaky voice (which gives her the nickname “Squeaky”) that has passion to run. In this story Hazel changes her views about things a lot in this story. Such as her POV on Raymond, Gretchen and others in general/
Raymond suffers a...

Raymond's Run Essay
This is a story by the writer Toni Cade Bambara who describes the events that take place in the life of a skinny girl named Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, a little African-American girl with a squeaky voice that has passion to run. However the tale begins describing the members of her family, the author writes more about Hazel and her brother Raymond.
Raymond is not quite right; apparently he suffers a metal disease. He’s bigger and older than Hazel, but a lot of...

"Our normal tendency to listen to only those with similar value priorities needs our active resistance. We have to fight against the tendency." (11) I completely agree with this statement. We should start into taking consideration on what others what to say. This is portrayed by many individuals such Malcolm X, Sherman Alexie, and Rita Mae Brown.
Malcolm X’s ‘Learning to Read’ covered about how illiterate Malcolm X was. He became frustrated at not being able to express on what he had to...

Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Marukami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Marukami
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Facts about the Moon by Dorianne Laux
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
What is the What by Dave Eggers
The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Milke
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Leaves...

"Roles of Women"
The configuration of a woman's identity consists of the expectations that society places on her. Such expectations are still in existence today. Authors from the nineteenth and twentieth century are using literature and poetry as a vehicle for the new role and passion of the woman. Such authors as Kate Chopin, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Marge Piercy, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Henry James evoke a new sense of expectations for women in their use of literary language. One must...

The Coming of Age
Childhood is a time where children learn about the world around themselves. They see and experience many factors that influence their everyday lives, which help them grow stronger when they become adults. In “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara the characters within the stories learn valuable lesson with help them grow to become better individuals. In “The Lesson” the character of Sugar undergoes a...

A New England Sibyl Vs. Miss Grief
Oppression has never been a word I have thought of when I thinking of the treatment of women. I have recently discovered women authors in history that have lived a double life that only women can. In the 1800s when Constance Fenimore Woolson and Mary E. Wilkings Freeman lived, they fought for equality with their words and the way they lived. They were women who were expected to be just pretty but silent, and they have been paving the way for women in the...

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, tradition and culture play a big part in the story’s theme; tradition and culture also play a big part in Sherman Alexie’s “This Is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” The effects that culture and tradition had in “Everyday Use” were similar to Sherman Alexie’s story but the ways that they were displayed were not the same. In many ways, “Everyday Use” showed the effect that culture had on its’ characters mainly Dee. Through the stories Thomas-Builds-the-Fire...

Journal
Themes of English Literature
Ana Sofia Teixeira Moreira, 65216
13/12/2012
David Callahan
Introduction
This is a kind of work that I like very much to do because of help me to remember and memorize everything that I learned and help me to broaden my vocabulary.
In this journal I’m going to do a brief analysis of everything that I learned in classes, poems, films, magazines, authors, books and other things.
My objectives in this journal are not only get a good mark but also,...

Toni Cade Bambara: Lesson for Change
Toni Cade Bambara was a renowned author, educator and civil rights activist. She created short stories that drew attention and awareness to the social, political and economic issues of her time. “Bambara always insisted that social commitment is inseparable from the production of art.” (Andrews, Foster and Harris 22) “The Lesson”, published in 1972, is a short story from the collection, “Gorilla, My Love”. This story’s purpose was to bring the social...

Comparison of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald are two widely known American authors who wrote great novels, but differ in many ways. They both wrote stories on life journeys, however; Twain used pre-adolescent characters to show how an individual should behave in society. Whereas, Fitzgerald uses adult characters to show how an individual is harmed by society. Mark TwainÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s characters have many dreams in all TwainÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s stories. On the other...

I decided to read this book for two reasons. My friends have read this book in the past and said it wasn't too bad. Second, it is one heck of a short book. I finished this book in 2 days. As the sample book report says, this book is only 27,000 words long. The book lived up to what my friends had said about it. The book was one of the best classic stories I have read, it had a good story and good description. Hemingway could paint the pictures in my mind. I have read other shot stories of his,...

English 101
November 18, 2010
Character Analysis/Wish you well
Wish you well
Wish You Well is a book that is superbly written by David Baldacci, the basic story line revolves within the life of Louisa Mae Cardinal, insecure girl aged twelve years surviving in the extreme life of New York City in the wake of 1940s with her much-admired but poorly paid father, her loving mother and her younger brother. Looking at the nature of the characters employed in the novel, it would be imperative...

Point of view is an essential element to a reader's comprehension of a story. The point of view shows how the narrator thinks, speaks, and feels about any particular situation. In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," the events are told through the eyes of a young uptown girl named Sylvia. The reader gets a limited point of view because the events are told strictly by Sylvia. This fact can influence the reader to see things just as she does. The strong language gives a unfamiliar reader an...

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The Making Of a Bookworm
There are few fundamental skills in life that are of greater importance than the ability to read
and understand the written word. It can take a person of any background as far as they can
dream. This is truly evident in the essay, “Superman and Me”, by Sherman Alexie which tells of
the author's struggle growing up poor on a Native American reservation in Washington State.
From a young age, his...

Notes on Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson" Characters:
Sylvia: the narrator and protagonist, a sassy, defiant African-American girl who resists the educational overtures of Miss Moore. The story's plot centers on a "teaching moment" or pedagogical breakthrough, where Sylvia is disturbed out of her complacency, having been exposed to the other side of the social ladder.
Sugar: one of Sylvia's better friends, a sidekick if you will. Sugar noticeably picks up on Miss Moore's lesson faster than...

In “The Chase” by Annie Dillard, the actual chase sequence is only six paragraphs long, a relatively short selection. But when read by the reader the passage seems to be much longer than only six paragraphs. This effect is made possible through Dillard’s excellent use of description, details, transitions, repetition, sentence variety, parallelism, point of view, and tension.
“He ran after us, and we ran away from him, up the snowy Reynolds sidewalk. At the corner, I looked back; incredibly, he...

Family Affairs
For this paper, I selected two works of literature, “The Love of My Life,” and “Everyday Use.” “The Love of My Life” by T. Coraghessan Boyle deals with teenage love that transition into turmoil. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker revolves around the social and economic differences between generations. Throughout this paper, I will be comparing the economic, educational, and social cultures of the families presented in each story. While both stories take very different paths, both...

Toni Cade Bambara's short story, "The Lesson," takes place in inner city New York. The main character, Sylvia, is a fourteen year old African American girl, who tells the story in a first person narrative. Sylvia mentions Miss Moore, a teacher who felt that it was her duty to help underprivileged children learn. Miss Moore felt there was a lesson to learn at FAO Schwartz, a very expensive, upper class toy store in downtown Manhattan. The reason Miss Moore brings the children to FAO Schwartz is...

﻿Tehilla Leiter
Mrs. Kurtz
English II
13 September 2014
Compare and Contrast Essay
In the stories, “The Lie,” by Kurt Vonnegut and “Barn Burning,” by William Faulkner, the main characters mature from childhood into adulthood. This maturity either develops from support of one’s family and upbringing or it grows internally from one’s conscience. We see from both stories that the main characters use this maturity to courageously speak up.
In the story, “The Lie,” Eli matures into adulthood....

As there are varieties of subjects, themes and art, there are various types of a short story. Some of the types are ancient tales, humor, satire, fantasy, biography, education, local color, and history. Lets us have a glimpse on each one of them in this article.
1. Ancient Tales
It is the power of the utilization of the ancient form of the tale in the modern short story. Italian writer Giovanni Verga's The She-Wolf (1880), and Chinese writer Yeh Shao-Chun's Mrs. Li's Hair are remarkable...

From the weekend fishing trips to complete hatred and denial, father-son relationships can be characterized by many good and bad experiences. After reading the two short stories "Powder" by Tobias Wolff and "If the River was Whiskey" by T.C. Boyle, which both feature father-son relationships that are placed under a large amount of stress. There are many similarities and differences between these two relationships that are not apparent upon just a cursory glance. A father can be completely...

English 113 YD4
March 1, 2013
Midterm
Triple Threat Criticism
Each of the short stories “Happy Endings”, “A Sorrowful Woman”, and “The Story of an Hour” express the central idea that women are confined and identified by their roles as wives or mothers by society. The authors’ goal of these short stories is to portray modern marriages, to help people be conscious to women's liberalism, and to instruct people not to focus on the endings of stories, but the middle portions. Margaret Atwood,...

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Books are the quietest and most constant of friends: they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.
Charles W. Eliot
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. Dr. Seuss
We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. B. F. Skinner
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. Margaret Fuller
Reading takes us away from home, but more important, it...

Democracy implies equal chance for all. Such is not the case for the black children of the ghetto, as we learn through reading Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson". During the course of the story the narrator, Sylvia, develops as a character due to the trip that Miss Moore takes her on. Miss Moore, an educated black woman who comes to the ghetto to give back to the children, takes children from the ghetto of New York to F.A.O Shwarz which is an extremely glamorous toy store. She does this to make...

Two Boys: Different or the Same?
The protagonists of “The Story of the Good Little Boy” by Mark Twain and “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes are similar and different in many ways. In “The Story of the Good Little Boy” by Mark Twain, the protagonist is Jacob Blivens. He was a good boy who “always obeyed his parents” and “always learned his book, and never was late at Sabbath-school” (“The Story of the Good Little Boy”, 473). It was his goal to end up in a Sunday-school book like all the...

Celia Kane
3/09/2012
Eng 120
Section B01 Spring 2012
Literary Analysis Essay 2
“The Lesson”: Significance of Miss Moore Taking the Children to New Environments
The predominant theme in “The Lesson” composed by Toni Cade Bambara is creating an understanding to adolescents of all the opportunities life has to offer; a lesson on social class and having a choice which society you choose to live in. Miss. Moore who takes on the responsibility to educate the young ones has...

In Annie Dillard’s autobiography “The Chase”, she emphasizes and uses great detail in her different writing techniques to make the scenes in the story feel more alive or realistic. The attention of detail can be seen with her intense use of transitions and active descriptions in the actual chase scene. Dillard also uses tone and language of the characters to make the story feel more like actual real time events.
In the first paragraph of “The Chase”, the narrator of the story a seven year old...

Coping With Life Challenges
Toni Cade Bambara, born March 25, 1939 in New York City; her mother was Helen Brent Henderson Cade. Bambara adopted that last name when she discovered it on a sketchbook her great-grandmother had. Bambara spent the first ten years of her life in Harlem, New York. In 1973, she published and essay in Redbook explaining what she liked about her mother. Bambara is an activist, novelist, writer, essayist, and a filmmaker. Bambara was influenced by her work as a...

"A good Man is Hard to Find"
The reason a good man is hard to find is because if ones standards are to high their goal is almost impossible to reach. The grandmother's mindset was still in the past she falls into the old southern woman stereotype. The Southern woman wanted a religious, upstanding southern gentleman and in this day and age that type of individual is hard to find.
The grandmother has a strong faith in god and it affects every aspect of her life. The misfit doesn't believe in...

HANDOUT THREE
Hemingway’s Writing Style
Ernest Hemingway’s writing is among the most recognizable and influential prose of the twentieth century. Many critics believe his style was influenced by his days as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, where he had to rely on short sentences and energetic English. Hemingway’s technique is uncomplicated, with plain grammar and easily accessible language. His hallmark is a clean style that eschews adjectives and uses short, rhythmic sentences that...

"Cat in the Rain" by Ernest Hemingway
The story under the title “Cat in the Rain” was written by Ernest Hemingway, one of the most favourite American novelists, short-story writer and essayist, whose deceptively simple prose style has influenced wide range of writers.
So, the story begins with the description of the hotel where two Americans stopped. It was raining, that’s why the couple stayed in and just a cat in the rain attracted the young woman’s attention. She wanted to get the cat...

Q 1:
The story For the Blood is the Life, by F. Marion Crawford, consists of two frames. The first frame is the present, and the second story is somebody’s adventure, and the two have a connection. There are two characters in the first frame: the narrator and Hoag. In the second frame there are 5 main characters: Alario, Angelo, Antonio, Cristina, and the Priest. In my opinion, the connection between the two stories is that the narrator is Antonio, because of number of reasons. Forst of all,...

Compare and Contrast Essay
Love is an emotion that deeply alters a person’s thought-process. This emotion can bring out the best of people or even make them question who they are and what they’re willing to give up for the person they love. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s short story “Catch the Moon”, she suggests that love can change a person for the better by making them want to improve themselves. However, in W.D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant”, he suggests that love...

The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan...

The White Heron depicts a story of a little girl who leads a life of respect and love of nature rather than that of fortune. Early on in the story, she meets a boy who is a self-proclaimed ornithologist, a scientist that studies birds. He is willing to pay ten dollars to whomever can show him the White Heron he had once seen. It is now up to Sylvia, the young girl, to make a decision either in favor of the ornithologist or the white heron. Ultimately, she will be making a decision to...

During the reading of the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara” many thoughts have come to my mind on how to react towards the attitude and the feelings of the protagonist, Sylvia. The day starts when Ms. More brings the kids to downtown New York City in a special shop. Many things will occur at this place and one thing that we will notice is the innocence throughout the interactions of the kids. As they step inside FAO Schwarz, an important and well known store in the city, they happen to...

The Ultimate Gift
Writer, Toni Case Bambara, in his short story, “The Lesson” explains and refers the norm in which Bambara accredits to a group of kids who have been exposed to a number of social, economic, and political issues. Sylvia and the rest of the group of kids are not aware of the significant but negative impact that these factors will have on their lives if they do not realize what kind of system they are living and depending upon. Based on some bad ramifications on the personal and...

Dignity and Respect
Many people try to escape the prison that suppresses them, but fail to because of their moral obligations to themselves and others. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying and Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, portray the struggles one acquires through their own conduct. Ethan in Ethan Frome, Grant in A Lesson Before Dying and Hester in Scarlet Letter each try to elude their life dilemma's, but are hindered due to their obligations. Ethan is...

In these pages a few years ago, I reported on some of my findings at having reached very old age. I was then in my early 90s. Five years further down the hill, I have a few more matters to note. Certainly I have not gained in wisdom, but due to so little physical activity and fewer social goings-on, I have begun to inhabit the static house of my head. To my surprise I find it a somewhat well-furnished abode, occupied with what I remember, have heard recently, and observed. Ernest Hemingway...

Determining the Future
At multiple points in life, people are faced with judgments ranging in difficulty and significance. And every decision could be affected by outside influences which could persuade people to make a choice. Sometimes, one is faced with the choice of which juice to drink in the morning, a very minute decision to make. There are other, more substantial decisions like choosing which college to attend or whether or not it is the right time to buy a home. Depending on the...

Mother and Daughter Conflict:
The Struggle to Understand Heritage in First-generation Americans
Brandon Williams
ENC1102
Mr. Cameron
Indian River State College
April 20, 2011
Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Abstract
Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use" and Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” investigate the relationships between mothers and daughters. Both writers show a struggle, by the children, to understand...

Where The Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls, follows the life of a young boy named Billy who lives in the Ozark Mountains with his Mamma, Papa, and three sisters. Because of his passion for coon hunting, he secretly saves up for two hunting dogs, and names them "Old Dan" and "Little Ann". They go on countless adventures through the Cherokee country. Rawls writes,
"A loving three-some, they ranged dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. Old Dan had the brawn, Little Ann had the...

It often surprises me how different individuals from different cultures and backgrounds all come together in one country and share many experiences. Individuals like Amy Tan who was born among Chinese immigrants, John Cheever from Massachusetts and Louise Erdrich who comes from a Chippewa Indian and German background and was born in Minnesota. A vast variety of origins and they all come to have several good or bad things in common in their work. Hardships of immigration is stated or implied in...

﻿Matthew Eliason
Nicholas Young
LITR221
January 26, 2014
All Good Things Must Come to an End
A Course Review of 2013-2014 Winter Semester of LITR 221
The amazing thing about literature is that it can be interrupted differently by each person who reads it. Which means that while one piece of writing is amazing, creative, and witty to one person to another person it could be the most boring, uninteresting, and redundant piece of literature they have ever read. In this semester of...

We all experience psychological conflicts, knowingly or unknowingly. They involve psychological conflicts among our thoughts, emotions, and rational thinking. It may be the most dangerous conflict of all due to the battleground in which it take place in -- our mind.

There are many examples of psychological conflicts in the stories we have read. In "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson, Leiningen battled not only on his South American plantation, but in his mind. He struggled...

Dan Hymes
Prof. Martin
ENG 206
3/14/2013
The theme of Vicki L. Sears “Grace” can be seen in the relationship that develops
between two of the characters, Billie Jim and Paul. Billie is an orphan who gets along with his
sister and is adopted by Paul and his wife. Billie displays a desire to trust and accept their new
parents while sister remains suspicious. Vickie Sears illustrate that although children suffer
abuse and neglect, there is hope that they can learn to...

READING GUIDE: MEMORY AND MEMOIR
Introduction
1. Before you begin each assigned essay, read about the author’s life (biography). In particular, note literary biography. On our Learning Web, I have a website link for each author we study.
2. Note the titles. What expectations do the titles create? Once you have finished reading each essay, reconsider each title.
3. As you read, note the author’s intertwining of some of the elements of memoir: narration, description (especially...

The Use of Symbolism to Foreshadow the Future
Often authors use signs to foreshadow events that will happen in the future in their stories. For example an author might write "As he was walking down the dark eerie path dark skies began to form" . Here the writer uses a usually negative sign to foreshadow a negative future. This is the most common way for authors to foreshadow in a story, but it isn't the only way. In some instances authors use symbols to foreshadow the future of a...

thornton wilder a great writer
Wilder's Writing
"Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan." In
Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Brother Juniper strives to make this
determination. Thornton Wilder may have also tried to ascertain this himself. As one of
America's most respected contemporary authors, Thornton Niven Wilder has received
much
renown for his works, especially Pulitzer Prize winning The Bridge of San Luis Rey . Why
Wilder...

Trifles
Sharen Dever
South University Online
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, explores the fact that women pay attention to the little things that may lead to the solution of a bigger problem. Why do women pay attention to the little things? Could it be because the attention to detail is the starting point to solving the bigger problem? Let’s think of the ‘little things’ like pieces of a puzzle. When all the little pieces are put together, they usually form a picture; therefore you...

Throughout the Three pieces of literature I read – “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, “Crazy Courage” by Alma Luz Villanueva, and “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes, multiple claims are implied on the subject of knowledge and individual power. Whether it is about Race, being different, or the struggle to survive, they all point towards the same direction. They all show that being strong, proud, and courage is what makes you individually powerful, even if others may look down upon you or...

﻿To Live In Freedom
In present time, women have obtained more freedom to express their thoughts and more privileges to achieve their goals. Their social status had a qualitative leap in the United States compare with the last couple of centuries; this subversion will continue lead women to enter a world which their talent and ability can be completely recognized. Different from today’s value, women who lived in previous centuries do not have the rights to do things the way they prefer. Social...